Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine June 2018 | Page 91

Explore | Flavours
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Eid al-Fitr, Idul Fitri or Lebaran, a festival marking the end
of the holy month of Ramadan, is the biggest celebration
of the year for Indonesian Muslims.
As with any other celebration, food plays
a very important role. In a country so
geographically spread out, it is a time when
family members who have returned home
for the season gather together and enjoy
time-honoured national dishes. This year,
Eid al-Fitr falls on June 15 or 16; the date
varies because it is based on the lunar calendar
and depends on the sighting of the moon.
Indeed, most families plan a big gathering for
the special celebration, providing an array of
food for a procession of guests that can go on
all day long. It is a must for those living away
from their parents’ home to mudik, which
means pulang kampung, or go back to their
birthplace. As families gather, they pay their
respects and ask forgiveness from parents
and elderly relatives in their home town.
Every year, Idul Fitri is synonymous with
massive logistical and travel challenges as
millions depart the big cities, especially
Jakarta, on every imaginable mode of
transport – from planes to boats and trains
– with the vast majority braving the journey
using their own cars or motorcycles. They
leave behind an enormous vacuum, as Jakarta
streets empty over the holiday week.
Not surprisingly, since the greatest number
of people travel across Java, it is generally
accepted that the most important dish for Eid
al-Fitr is ketupat, a Javanese favourite. Using a
complicated technique, long coconut fronds are
arranged in a hollow diamond shape half filled
with rice, which is cooked for hours in boiling
water until a diamond-shaped cake forms.
It is set aside to cool, the fronds are removed
and the cake is cut into bite-size cubes.
There is a wonderful philosophical meaning
behind this humble rice cake cooked in
vibrant yellow coconut fronds. A wise
aphorism associates the complications
involved in creating ketupat with the
challenges and mistakes we overcome
in life’s journey. The end of the long woven
frond is deliberately left loose, signifying the
importance of maintaining our relationships
As with any other
celebration, food plays
a very important role.
It is a time when family
members who have
returned home for the
season, gather together
and enjoy time-honoured
national dishes.
with family, friends and others. Ketupat is
commonly served with many other dishes,
such as opor ayam and sambal goreng hati.
Opor ayam is a white curry – cooked in coconut
milk – easily found all over Java and a particular
favourite among the Betawi, the indigenous
people of Jakarta. The sauce is based on a white
paste, a mixture of garlic, shallots, ginger,
coriander seeds, galangal, candlenut seeds,
white pepper infused with lemon grass and
daun salam, or bay leaves.